HYDERoom Staff Diary – 05.05.18

HYDERoom Staff Diary – 05.05.2018

Beijing
from JIN

May 5th

And we travelled from Shanghai to Beijing on the Chinese bullet train! This is perhaps the most intense movement with “On the road feeling” that we will have on our Asia Tour.

And it was enjoyed by the members, as well as by the Staff.
Of course I took a picture from this angle of HYDE, as promised.
Since when it comes to guys, the photo of the “Bullet Train and one with the couple” is essential.

The station of this bullet train is very similar to ours, but the services offered by the train are similar to those of an airplane.

The passport must be confirmed at the door, where the tickets are verified, as well as the name of each one must be written on the ticket.
Also, inside we had the service of the food cart that we rented with sweets and water.

And we toast with the stage director, who by the way is my namesake, with some beers and some snacks that we bought at the station.
This is how the bullet train essentially became a pub, but then, this is the correct way in which one must travel within the world of music.

On the other hand, HYDE… had a “Special Seat” even more special than ours in first class!

And he said “Waaaaaaa, it’s a totally reclined seat!,” And being very happy, he laid down completely horizontal.

Then, in complete silence… he went to sleep. How fast!

In the end, Hyde did not get up once from there until we got to Beijing.

In a way it seems to be a waste of space, but it also has a very modern meaning of luxury…

And he said “I would have liked to see the landscape,” But you were asleep so you would not have seen it anyway, right? (XD)

On the other hand, I had a drink, so I did not take any naps & I could contemplate the landscape from the window, and that is how I saw everything was rural, however when we got closer to Beijing everything began to cloud and the visibility became almost impossible.

And although there were various rumors about Beijing, the first thing that came to my mind was: “Air pollution.” And when I saw the the weather app on my iPhone, the “Air Quality Index” appears and this information is between the name of the city where you are and the temperature, which indicated: “Serious Pollution.” Hey! It can’t be!

And suddenly a lot of foreign people appeared wearing masks because of the concern for pollution, and the first thing that we Japanese do is put on a mask, so it is weird to see others wearing them, but this is not our country so we were surprised seeing other people wear masks.

We also care about the quality of the air during our way to the hotel once we arrive at the station.

The scene was so unusual, that it looked as if the white fluff of dandelions floated in the air throughout the city.

And it was on the second day that these took the form of a large white cloud of cotton.

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May 6th

But the next day, that is, the day of the live, the weather was good. And in the venue: “BJ-EXPO Theater,” which is a large amphitheater, the air quality improved and changed to: “Light level of Pollution”. And the place has a sublime appearance, the ceiling design of the auditorium is impressive and beautiful. It does not look like it’s going to be a live, but rather a [orchestral] concert, so the atmosphere became tense.

For lunch, the catering was a Japanese menu that always fills us with inspiration.

“Sushi!”

A week after leaving Japan, our desire for Japanese food was increasing… Ummm? Now that I see it well, it seems that sushi is different every so often.
What is this? Takowasa?* (*Raw octopus seasoned with wasabi), corn? And * Chanja?* (*Korean spicy, marinated cod innards seasoned with soy sauce and sesame) and also several unknown ingredients, in addition there is a kind of orange paste that is not part the rest [of the food], but was on top of the gunkanmaki* (*Gunkanmaki is sushi shaped as an oval shape, wrapped with a narrow piece of Nori sheet (seaweed) and toppings are added on top, usually Ikura (salmon roe).), but what made us tremble was the color of the wasabi!

It looked like a sticky toothpaste, and it has an incredibly green color, which even looks chemical.

And we were warned, saying “Even the taste seems different,” when our guitarist YUKI took that fluorescent wasabi and ate it all at once, it was when a tragedy occurred.

And with an expression of pain he began to cough, showing great agony, apparently this wasabi was 10 times more spicy than usual. And Hyde likes wasabi, which means that among all the Japanese people who were there, he was the one who sacrificed himself. Your sacrifice will not be in vain! Yuki-kun!

Although we were in the room where the catering served that awful food, HYDE was working in the dressing room right then and there.
He did not even know what happened, however the ropes team was worried and said, “Will HYDE-san not have lunch?” And then Mane-san said “Please, if you want, give me this sushi.” He said it like a feeling of kindness? So we entrusted him with that weird sushi and wasabi.

And when HYDE saw the sushi, for a moment he put on a happy expression like “Oh!” however, he would soon realize that it was a strange sushi.
Surely this can be strange in many ways. But he realized something and then he smiled mockingly and whispered something secretly in Mane’s ear.
…And the live began. As soon as the stage lights went out, “UNEXPECTED,” the instrumental version began to flow.

It was a sacred beginning, full of majesty.
And the strings section was on the stage from the left when they noticed an incident. There was something about one of the chairs. And there was one of the transparent containers where that strange sushi was served, and on the cover HYDE wrote something with a marker.

“I’m not hungry”
And inside that sacred beginning and full of majesty, at the back of the stage was the violnist Higashiyama-san, who did not stop laughing.

Caption: “I’m not hungry – HYDE”

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May 7th

And how do we spend our day off here in Beijing, the capital of China full of stories? If one drives for about 2 hours, one arrives at the world landmark known as “The Great Wall of China,” and as expected, it was a bit far. Today there are a lot of local audiovisual promotions, also, tomorrow we had to make the contract with the catering again and we had a tight schedule, so we are going to enjoy tourism at all costs in the city.

Today, the city of Beijing also has that air that seems to have cotton fluff. And as I was worried, so I started to investigate and apparently in April and May, the Willow trees are wrapped in this material, it is something characteristic of this time of year in Beijing. Although I was relieved that it was not the chemical component that I imagined, does that not bring secondary health problems with pollen, like in Japan? I’m going to get more into the matter.

And, here we have good news! It is possible to look at the Forbidden City, which is supposed to be closed today, but they will give us a private access!
By the way, the Forbidden City is registered as a landmark. The last time special arrangements were made was for us to have VIP passes at Disneyland in Shanghai! Since of course, being next to a great rock star, I can have many valuable experiences, and I humbly think that this is more like an “extra bonus.”
The first thing we did was to walk along a very long corridor surrounded by walls.

And although it seems strange, I wanted to take pictures of this curious place, what would be interpreted as taking a picture no matter what you do… and the same scenery continued for a long moment without changes.

And HYDE murmured: “It does not matter how much we walk… this is long,” but it was not impossible either. And we could see the end in the distance, but we could not get close to the corners, so mentally it was as if by walking, we were sightseeing in one way or another, right?

Finally we stopped walking and arrived at a desired corner, and we turned around and then… oooh! The scenery changed!
However, the left side of the wall is the same landscape, although the width between the walls seemed wider, in reality the “peripheral view” did not change.

“Well, maybe we’re walking in circles?” We said, getting anxious, and then we started to feel disappointed. And then I found out that the part that was rented was only the peripheral circumference area, so “We can not go beyond here.” What a disgrace!
And then HYDE got annoyed and said, “Ehhhhh!” as he laid back.

And although I tried to forcibly change the route, we returned at the beginning walking the same distance but everywhere it was the same scenery.

After, HYDE drank the specialty of a coffee shop as we went on our break, this coffee was called “carbonated coffee” and he drank it saying, “Maybe there won’t be a second chance, right?” Oh oh, why is it that the weather on our rest day looks gloomy?

On the other hand, we went to the famous “Tiananmen Square,” and because the surroundings were full of cars and for the safety of the citizens, I wanted to take a picture but I was immediately stopped by some very strict officers. So I could not take the commemorative photo since it could only be seen from inside the car, so we had to eat something fast inside it. Oops.

After lunch we explored a night market without really knowing anything about it, so we could take a look at the beautiful side of Beijing, which made our day of rest really come to an end, full of fun.